thinking of starting a online auction site for games

[retrogamesuk]

Hey all,

 

I now have ditched the auction site idea (sort of), ever wanted your own website, but don't have the time or money? Well how about a network of stores of pure video gaming goodness!

 

fully customizable store, change background, colours, header, footer, whatever you want, none of our branding, all we need is a link back to the main website.

 

Unlimited amount of products,

 

Payment gateways, checks and money orders, paypal, google checkout and more!

 

You will be provided with a purpose made store theme, but it will work with any wordpress theme! Just upload activate and your away.

 

it will look and act as your own website, the domain would be like this (http://www.ourdomain.com/yourstorenamehere

 

So what about fees you ask? Well £5 GBP per month, for unlimited selling, £20 for 6months unlimited selling or £30 per year for unlimited selling!

 

Now how much cheaper is that than ebay!

 

Make it your own, add a blog, add a forum, whatever you want, let your users login with twitter (just ask for our API) Whatever you want you are sure to be able to create it.

 

This is still currently being made and is about 1-2 months from being ready, but what do you all think about this idea?

 

P.S Did I mention the first 20 people get free membership for life! and after that the next 100 get it free for the first year!

[edintv]

Hi,

 

I´m in, Where is the "First Customers" sign up form?

[Andre81]

Individual stores have some disadvantages. Buyers don't want to browse different stores, they want the complete listing of the mall like on Amazon. I would also pull the plug of gamegavel.co.uk. There should only be one worldwide site. The item location is not that important.

[retrogamesuk]

Hi,

 

I´m in, Where is the "First Customers" sign up form?

 

Hi,

 

Drop me a PM with these details

 

1. Username you want.

 

2. Email address.

 

3. Site name (url) example http://www.ourdomain.com/yourstorenamehere

 

4. Site title (can be changed whenever you want)

 

and that's it, a password is randomly generated and will be sent once ready.

 

Thanks

[retrogamesuk]

Individual stores have some disadvantages. Buyers don't want to browse different stores, they want the complete listing of the mall like on Amazon. I would also pull the plug of gamegavel.co.uk. There should only be one worldwide site. The item location is not that important.

 

They can from the main website, but it's not a main feature of this website, as it's not meant to be like amazon or ebay, it's for people own individual stores without loads of rules and all the hassle of setting up a website or using ebay and amazon.

[retrogamesuk]

I think I know why you might be doing this: for the love of the hobby! Good for you! If you manage to break even (and I have faith) then you are doing something positive for the cause.

 

I am a small time seller who would be inticed by your 2 percent rate. Let me know when the time comes to list, and if you need any help with anything.

 

PS, what about American/international sellers?

 

Hi,

 

Check out my latest update, if your interested let me know, free lifetime membership for the first 20 members!

[Andre81]

They can from the main website, but it's not a main feature of this website, as it's not meant to be like amazon or ebay, it's for people own individual stores without loads of rules and all the hassle of setting up a website or using ebay and amazon.

 

I don't think this is really attractive for sellers or buyers. Everyone could buy some webspace and set up his own store. Or just rent a webshop with own domain for $9.99/mo, choose background and title and start selling.

 

Every website that wants to compete against eBay must be dedicated to gaming and must have much better features and options tailored to games. We already have 1 billion websites offering webshops.

[Vaughan]

Honestly? I don't know. But I will say - if I have two ways to buy something, one is a post with a price, the other an auction - I'll go for the former every time. I think auctions are the worst way to buy. Don't they exist only to push the price up? And they're so open to fraud such as friends bumping up the price, creating multiple accounts, etc. Auctions are a bit of a joke, imo. I must say, I'd rather pay a little more for the item that mess with it all.

[retrogamesuk]

They can from the main website, but it's not a main feature of this website, as it's not meant to be like amazon or ebay, it's for people own individual stores without loads of rules and all the hassle of setting up a website or using ebay and amazon.

 

I don't think this is really attractive for sellers or buyers. Everyone could buy some webspace and set up his own store. Or just rent a webshop with own domain for $9.99/mo, choose background and title and start selling.

 

Every website that wants to compete against eBay must be dedicated to gaming and must have much better features and options tailored to games. We already have 1 billion websites offering webshops.

 

I can see your point, and yes someone can get there own webspace and domain, but how do they make the website, what software, payment options, can they intergrate api's, how do they do it, javascript, php, html, html 5, xhtml, css, would it be css and xhtml valid. What would they do about SEO, be someone who barely shows up on google, so they won't sell any products.

 

What do they do when their website gets hacked? Panic like everyone does.

 

I've recoverd many hacked websites for people before and charge £250 and why was they hacked? Simple they were poor, created on free software, with holes everywhere.

 

I'm a web developer and designer, My code for this idea is rock-solid, with lighting quick hosting, they will already have 50,000 people looking from my own website, with me advertising the website, not them, they don't need to pay a penny to advertise it.

 

With it's own gaming social network also being launched at the same time, it's dedicated to gaming.

 

it's not simply offering a webshop, it's much more than that, it's the next generation of how games will be sold.

[retrogamesuk]

Honestly? I don't know. But I will say - if I have two ways to buy something, one is a post with a price, the other an auction - I'll go for the former every time. I think auctions are the worst way to buy. Don't they exist only to push the price up? And they're so open to fraud such as friends bumping up the price, creating multiple accounts, etc. Auctions are a bit of a joke, imo. I must say, I'd rather pay a little more for the item that mess with it all.

 

I agree, everytime now on ebay, everything's being bid up by people's family and friends, I don't mind auctions but only if they are fair, this is now why I prefer just buy it now type items, you summed it up perfectly in your last sentence

[Vaughan]

There is simply no way to police an auction. It's all based on trust - but who's putting that much trust in complete strangers whose only benefit from the whole thing is that the price goes up and up and up?!? The system is essentially encouraging them to cheat.

 

Better to get things from forums, where you at least have some connection with the person, or as you say - Buy Now items that aren't priced through the roof.

 

Of course, the lure of auctions is that buyers think they're going to get a bargain. That rarely happens - but like gamblers - the dream of it tempts a lot of people.

[retrogamesuk]

There is simply no way to police an auction. It's all based on trust - but who's putting that much trust in complete strangers whose only benefit from the whole thing is that the price goes up and up and up?!? The system is essentially encouraging them to cheat.

 

Better to get things from forums, where you at least have some connection with the person, or as you say - Buy Now items that aren't priced through the roof.

 

Of course, the lure of auctions is that buyers think they're going to get a bargain. That rarely happens - but like gamblers - the dream of it tempts a lot of people.

 

That's what I found out in a test, yes you can track IP so if one persons bids from multiple accounts on the same item then you can ban them, but it's very hard and would take great man power.

 

Everyone in a auction, always thinks they are going to get a bargain, but it rarely happens now days, even when an item does go cheap, normally the seller just says it broken, missing, or won't sell because of the low price!

[toptenmaterial]

Again, I will reiterate that no matter what the outcome, you are promoting the hobby, which in and of itself is rewarding. And if you can manage to earn a few pounds in the process, then all the better!